


farther away than the stars

by Supreme Zarc (tatersalad5001)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Anxiety, Drabble Collection, Friendship, Gen, Loneliness, Pre-Canon, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2020-09-24 13:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20359585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/Supreme%20Zarc
Summary: “What if the meteor shower’s invisible? What if we can’t see it?””Have you ever felt invisible?”





	1. Chapter 1

Surrounded by trees, a campfire roaring nearby, and a sheet of stars blanketing the night sky.

Yup, this was camp.

Camp was all about learning, just like elementary school. And Julia wasn’t a huge fan of elementary school lately. It was all work and no play, no fun allowed. But camp allowed at least some fun, and not everything there was so bad.

Case in point, Bastion Misawa.

Bastion was probably one of the coolest people on this planet Julia had met so far. He was really smart, but not like, in a boring way. And he actually enjoyed fun things. Bastion and Julia had quickly bonded over their favorite card game, and the water cycle. Bastion had a card that was a dragon made of water. How cool would it be if the sky rained a whole dragon? And when the dragon roared, it’d sound like thunder! 

It took Julia about two seconds to decide they liked Bastion.

It was late at night. The other kids at their campsite were asleep. The only people who were awake were Julia, Bastion, and their campsite counselor who was staying awake until everyone else was asleep. There was supposed to be a meteor shower that night, and everyone could stay up to watch it if they wanted!

The other kids hadn’t cared. Julia thought that was pretty lame of them.

The counselor had gone off to the bathhouse for a bathroom break, so for the briefest of moments, it was just Bastion and Julia by the campfire, staring up at the stars.

”What if we missed it already?” Julia asked. “What if we stay up all night waiting for it but it already happened and we never see it?”

”I don’t think we did,” Bastion told them. “I’m sure it’ll happen any second now.”

“What if it’s invisible? What if we can’t see it?”

They waited for Bastion to give some kind of answer to that question, but he didn’t.

”Have you ever felt invisible?” Bastion looked towards them. “Like no one ever notices you’re there? Like no matter what you do, what you accomplish, it won’t matter, because no one will ever notice?”

Julia frowned. “...I feel invisible all the time. Like...it doesn’t even matter if I’m there or not. Because if I wasn’t there anymore, no one would care.”

”It’s like everyone else is living in a different world altogether, and...” Bastion sighed.

Julia pointed up at the sky. “We’re like the stars. Really far away. No one even thinks about them most of the time.”

”Well, I’m glad you’re here. Camp would be a lot less fun without you,” Bastion said.

Julia grinned. “I’m glad you’re here, too. And I bet you’re gonna do the coolest things and everyone will know about it. I will, at least.”

Seconds later, the meteor shower began.

”It’s starting!” The counselor was just getting back from the bathhouse. “Make a wish!”

It was kind of stupid and cheesy, but when Julia looked over at Bastion, they knew what their wish was.

They wanted the two of them to keep being friends.


	2. Chapter 2

“C’mon!! We’ve got free time! Let’s go to the camp store!”

“...Yeah! Okay! Sounds fun! What’re we getting?”

“You’ll see!”

Julia giggled as she pulled Bastion along towards the camp store. They’d just finished their block of lessons in tree identification at the pavilion. The summer camp’s store was a five minute walk away. Not exactly far, but not the closest. The walk wasn’t completely safe; they had to cross a road on the way, and even if the road got little traffic, safety never stopped being important. Even in her excitement, Julia made sure to look both ways before crossing the road. Afterwards, she continued pulling Bastion along the pine needle-covered path to the store.

The summer science camp’s store had a wide variety of things available. Snacks, souvenirs, shirts both sporting the camp logo and completely white for tie-dying, and on Tuesday (yesterday) the local ice cream store came in. It had everything young children could want out of their camp experience.

Oh, and it had collectible trading cards, too. Many different kinds for very cheap prices. These mostly went untouched, but until the store finally sold off its current stock, they were still available.

Julia and Bastion looked around in wonder as they entered. The two had gone in a couple of times already that week, but it still felt magical to them, as young as they were.

Camp itself felt magical to them both, too. How could it not? They were surrounded by nature, close to the water, the perfect spot to not just learn about science, but experience the laws of science for themselves. And to spend the week making friends just interested in the subject as they were.

When several minutes went by without Julia picking out something to buy, it became clear to Bastion that she hadn’t come into the store with a plan.

“I thought you wanted to come here because you knew what you wanted to buy.” He wasn’t mad or irritated, just curious. Why had she wanted to come here at all?

Julia bit her lip. “Well...”

“Is everything alright?”

“I...I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “The weeks half over, but I don’t know what I should do. I’ve never had this much control over using money before...and there’s so many choices. But I don’t wanna go home with nothing either! I came here with money, so I should use some of it...”

“Do you want help figuring out what to buy?” he asked.

“You’re the best friend I’ve made here. I...hoped it would be easier if you were here, too.” She didn’t want to say it out loud, but even if they hadn’t known each for too long, his friendship helped her feel more confident. And everything was more fun together, here. She’d hoped it would be enough for her to make a decision, but...she needed more help than that, in the end.

Bastion, of course, didn’t mind at all. He was always willing to help his friends. He looked around once again around the store, but this time more critically. Together, he knew, they could make a decision. Then something caught his eye. “Hey, you like Duel Monsters. We both do, it helped us become friends in the first place. They have packs of cards here; why don’t we each buy one? That way we can start small. Maybe next time you come in here, it’ll be easier to decide if you’ve already bought something once.”

“...Okay. Yeah!” Julia nodded. “We can open them together, too! Let’s do it.”

The duo each purchased a pack of Duel Monsters cards, ran back outside, and on the count of three, each opened their packs of cards. Each pack held about ten or so cards.

Bastion, after opening his and going through his cards, realized he was a big fan of parts of a set he’d gotten: Oxygeddon, Hydrogeddon, and Water Dragon. Julia could see in his eyes he was already building a deck in his head for when he got more cards that worked with what he had.

Julia carefully leafed through her own cards. Drillago, Mr. Volcano, Mudragon of the Swamp... She gasped when she saw the very last card in the pack.

“What is it?”

Julia held the card out for Bastion to see. “Hudrogeddon!! I got one two!! We both got it!!”

“The chances of that...” Bastion held his Hydrogeddon next to Julia’s. “That’s incredible. Of all the cards... It’s almost like it’s meant to be.”

“Maybe it’s a sign. Maybe it means we’ll be best friends forever, even when we’re apart!”

“I’m not sure I needed a sign for that. I’m afraid you can’t get rid of me that easily. But you know what? You’re right. Looking at our Hydrogeddons...I know our friendship will never end.”

So what if they would only see each other at camp for a few more days? When they got home, they still had other ways to talk to each other. Theirs was a bond that wouldn’t be broken over something as weak as distance or time.

”We should take these cards back to the campsite. I’ll never forgive myself if we lose them because they fell out of pockets or something like that.”


End file.
